EQUINE EMERGENCY

The Leinster Horse and Pony Rescue (L.H.P.R) are proud to operate one of very few dedicated Equine Welfare Helpline's in Ireland.​

If you are concerned about the welfare of a horse, pony or donkey in counties Meath, Dublin or Kildare, please call our confidential Welfare Helpline on 0469450512 (option 1) between 8am and 8pm, Monday to Friday. You can also complete the short welfare report form at the bottom of this page.

(7 days a week) ON 0838461411. This option should only ever be used for life or death welfare situations.: Road Traffic Accidents, Trapped Equine, Drowning Equine/Equine in a ditch or an equine who is collapsed and unable to stand.

This is a charitable service. Unfortunately we are unable to answer calls 24/7, but if you leave a voicemail message we will return your call as soon as possible.

When you call, you will speak to someone who has a good knowledge, both of horses and the relevant legislation, and all calls are dealt with in the strictest confidence.

We prefer to take welfare reports over the telephone rather than by email, as this allows us to ask any questions we need in order to get the full picture of the situation - essential for assessing urgency. It also allows us to make sure we know exactly where the horses are.

We understand callers’ concerns about remaining anonymous, and this can be assured, but speaking to someone rather than reading an email or listening to an anonymous voicemail message ensures the horses can be visited if necessary – it may not be possible for us to find the horses from the information left on a message.

We have one person answering the welfare line, so please bear with us if you have difficulty getting through. We have an answerphone system in place to allow us to deal with as many calls as possible, so if your call isn’t answered immediately please leave a message and we promise to get back to you – we aim to return all welfare calls on the same working day. When leaving a message, please state your phone number clearly and repeat it – this is particularly important if you’re calling from a mobile as it may be a bad line.

We take welfare concerns by phone rather than through email or social media (unless there is a good reason why the person is unable to call, such as a disability). We do this because we need to ask very specific questions about the horse and the situation in order to prioritise and action the call appropriately. It is vitally important that the person we are speaking to has up-to-date, first-hand information. Without this, it can be very difficult to get the full picture or an exact location for the horse or pony, both of which are fundamental to investigate the concern further.

As tempting as it may be to share or discuss welfare concerns on social media, there are a number of significant pitfalls with this approach and we would urge extreme caution in doing so. Not only can the content shared be exaggerated or misinformed, it could also be detrimental to the rescue of a horse or pony or to any potential action against the person responsible. In addition to this, by sharing images across social channels, a neglectful or abusive owner may receive a warning that they are due to be visited and therefore have a chance to remove the animal or temporarily improve its care, leaving us unable to find the horse and/or remove it. In some cases, welfare officers have worked hard over a period of time to develop lines of communication with owners in order to get access to animals which may be of concern, and it is a sad fact that the same owners can very quickly cut off these lines of communication if they feel as though they are being publicly criticised. In certain circumstances it can be extremely difficult to get access to horses which are of concern and options such as getting a warrant - which has to be issued by a court - can be difficult to achieve and will inevitably take time to put in place, giving the owner yet more opportunity to remove the horse or make just enough of an improvement so that no action can be taken. Many of these outcomes would not be in the best interests of the animals involved.

We fully appreciate how upsetting and frustrating it can be to see images of animals in distress on social media, but in many cases these photographs do not offer a full picture. If you are concerned by any photographs or videos you see on social media, please ask the person who took the originals to call our welfare line as soon as they can and encourage them to remove the images so that word does not get back to the owner before the matter can be thoroughly investigated.

For us to help horses in need there are procedures which must be followed in order to secure, wherever possible, an appropriate long-term improvement in their situation and we greatly appreciate all your support in helping us to achieve this for as many horses as possible – we simply couldn’t do what we do without your help. Remember we must always act within the law and we continue to work with limited resources. Response times vary but we aim to dispatch an officer as soon as possible. If you are concerned about a horse outside of the above counties please Email:[email protected] for details and advice.

''Please be assured that the identity of anyone who reports an animal to a welfare organisation is kept in the strictest confidence. This is not only a moral and professional obligation but a legal requirement.''

REPORT A NON URGENT WELFARE CONCERN

Have you come across a welfare concern that needs to be investigated but is not an emergency or matter of urgency? Maybe its a horse that has water but no hay or a horse that has no shelter... If you feel it can be investigated within 24 hours please use this form, however if you feel the concern is urgent and needs to be investigated immediately please proceed to call our helpline.